Rick Stone is desperate for his Huddersfield Giants to show him they can perform on the big occasion – and they need to do it NOW!
Huddersfield face the first of their two Middle 8s ‘Grand Finals’ at home to Leeds Rhinos on Sunday (3pm) and at Hull KR next Saturday in their bid to avoid relegation from Super League.
If the under-pressure Giants do rise to the occasion and win both games, they could secure the third automatic Super League 2017 slot and avoid having to win the ‘Million Pound Game’ to stay up the following weekend.
But vastly-experienced Australian NRL chief Stone knows it’s going to take a massive change in mindset to guarantee his players finally produce the goods and remain a top-flight club.
“I’ve been here a couple of months and I’ve yet to see us manage an occasion well,” said Stone.
“That’s something that has to stop now, or else we’ll suffer the consequences.
“We started the game poorly in our opening Middle 8s game at Salford and were beaten, and it was exactly the same story at Leigh last weekend. There were both big games for us, and we just couldn’t rise to the occasion.
“On both occasions we produced errors on errors, which effectively took us out of competing in the games.
“That’s a mental thing as much as anything else, and we all know we can’t afford to do it again this year. If we do, then Leeds and Hull KR will beat us.
“The players have yet to prove to me they can handle the big occasions. They need to start doing it now.”
